Strange Sadbhavna with arrest of riot victims and social activist Mallika Sarabhai (edit Times of India)

From The Times of India

Strange Sadbhavna

September 19, 2011, 12.00AM IST

By arresting protesting riot victims as well as celebrated danseuse and social activist Mallika Sarabhai, the Gujarat government has defeated the spirit of sadbhavna or compassion that was supposed to be the hallmark of chief minister Narendra Modi`s three-day fast. Any definition of compassion has to include the tolerance of dissent. Besides, compassion and harmony in Gujarat necessarily have to come to terms with the destructive legacy of the 2002 riots, whose victims still await justice. But Modi has turned an unapologetic face to the victims, while recognising the issue in the stagey manner of greeting Muslims who have reportedly been advised to turn out in regulation skull caps and burqas - to advertise their identity for the purpose of the photo-op it represents.

If the spirit of compassion is abroad, surely it should extend to people who are merely exercising their democratic right to speak their mind about what they see as flaws in Modi`s rule? Not just that, on the same day the state home ministry chargesheeted suspended police officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who had questioned Modi`s role in the riots. Such actions look more like vindictiveness than compassion. Modi has an impressive development record going for him. But if he is to build his image and pitch himself on the national stage, such displays of vindictiveness have exactly the opposite effect. They rake up the ghost of the state administration`s partisan role during the 2002 riots, rather than settle the issue and move Gujarat on to a new plane. Modi needs to apologise for the riots, or at least find some way of reaching out to the victims.